THE BUZZ: Strauss Zelnick, CEO of publisher Take-Two, has said that THQ won’t be around in six months.

Speaking at the MIT Business in Gaming conference, Zelnick said that the reason his company is successful comes down to concentrating on owned property instead of licensed games like THQ, and that there is also a major difference in quality.

“The most important difference is quality,” Zelnick said. “Take-Two has the highest quality ratings among third-party publishers, according to Metacritic and most people in the industry. Quality really, really, really matters. THQ has had some good games, but their quality levels aren’t even remotely … the quality hasn’t measured up.”

“Strategy didn’t work and the execution was bad. To put it another way: the food was no good and the portions were small,” he added. “THQ won’t be around in six months.”

EGM’s TAKE: These may sound like harsh words coming from a fellow publisher, but you only have to look at the financial state that THQ is in to realize how true it may turn out to be. THQ has been in trouble for months and has even been threatened with stock exchange delisting. Does this prove that licensed products only lead to trouble, no matter how successful you make them? Will more publishers switch to original IPs in order to protect themselves? THQ’s days may be numbered, but it’s certainly not dead yet. Let’s hope it sticks around long enough to get us Darksiders II, we really want to play that game.

Matthew Bennett finally got his big break with EGM three years ago, following years of volunteer work for various sites. An ability to go many hours without sleep and a quick wit make him ideal for his role as associate editor at EGMNOW.com. He often thinks back to the days when the very idea of this career seemed like nothing but an impossible dream. Follow him on Twitter @mattyjb89. Meet the rest of the crew.